MIDDLEBURY -- The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved an agreement to allow a Prospect-based company take over the town's police dispatching services.

Selectmen signed a five-year agreement with Northwest Connecticut Public Safety Inc., which handles emergency dispatch services for several towns, including fire and medical calls for Middlebury.

Officials had been mulling whether to regionalize services since the Board of Finance slashed the communications budget for the current fiscal year.

First Selectman Edward B. St. John said the deal was cost-effective for the town. He showed calculations from Chief Financial Officer Lawrence S. Hutvagner which showed that dispatch currently costs $418,088 per year for two full-time and six part-time employees.

Switching to Northwest will only cost the town $196,335 per year, St. John said.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to do the math, but it's terribly expensive," St. John said.

Dispatchers have submitted two petitions to the Board of Selectmen in an attempt to keep their jobs in town. St. John said through negotiations with Northwest's executive director, Susan M. Webster, the town has reached a deal guaranteeing both Jim Roy and Tom Reynolds, the two full-time dispatchers, their jobs if they pass a pre-employment test.

The test is designed to ensure the two are qualified for the job. If they pass, the town will pay for the men's health benefits for six months. Then they would qualify for Northwest's benefits package.

Town Attorney Robert Smith said he reached out to the dispatchers' union after securing at least two positions at Northwest, but a deal was not reached.

However, he said the opportunity remains open to both men.

"The monetary numbers make it imperative that Middlebury consider this alternative," Smith said.

Both Reynolds and Roy said they were never notified that their jobs would be guaranteed, and argued that the only way their jobs would be certain is if Northwest waived the test altogether.

Roy said after the meeting that he may petition again to send the issue to a referendum.

"None of this was brought to our attention," Roy said. "I've asked several times about this, and was told nothing was taking place. How odd that after our contract was ratified we discovered this was going on."

The agreement states that the town would be responsible for any equipment upgrades, and will be required to pay Northwest $50,000 for any changes.

If a new agreement is not reached after the first five years, the town's contract will automatically renew for an additional three years, the pact states.

Smith, who helped to draft the agreement, said the town may be eligible for an up to $250,000 state grant to cover all of the transition costs.

A timetable for the transition has not been established, but St. John said he expected the switch to begin within the next month.

Northwest also agreed to consider moving its entire operation to the Police Department on Southford Road. Northwest would lease space in the building's bottom floor, but if an agreement is not reached within six months, the company can back out of the plan.

Town officials also said that a recent study showed that Middlebury's call volume was the third lowest in the state, averaging about six emergency dispatch calls per day.

"We've done everything possible," St. John said. "It's not a cost-effective operation, and we have to find a way to do it better and cheaper."

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